Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Scott Higgins can go home again.
The KLAS Channel 8 sports director is leaving Las Vegas for his hometown of Tulsa, Okla., where he will take the same position with CBS affiliate KOTV Channel 6.
Higgins, who came to Channel 8 in September of 1989, will work his last day in Las Vegas Feb. 23, unless the station finds a replacement sooner.
Higgins was born in Detroit but grew up in Tulsa, where he met his eventual wife of nine years, Dawn, in the second grade. The two also attended Oklahoma State together.
"That was the primary reason I sent a tape to Tulsa," Higgins said, "because it's home, and that's the dream job for anyone: to go home again and cover the sports you grew up with."
The 31-year-old father of three boys actually has his family to thank. Dawn's mother was the one who notified him of the opening.
"My mother-in-law read in the paper that the sports director was leaving for Fox Sports West, and that's when she immediately told me about it," Higgins said. "The job wasn't advertised, so if it wasn't for her, I never would have known about it."
But home isn't the only reason he is leaving. Higgins became frustrated with his position at Channel 8 last February when he was reassigned to the weekend sports desk, a demotion in the world of broadcast news.
And it wasn't the first such reassignment for Higgins at Channel 8.
In 1991, he was sent to the weekend desk when Karie Ross joined the station from ESPN. The latest shuffle was executed to facilitate then-weekend sports anchor Dave McCann, who became the play-by-play man for the UNLV football team.
"That made me aware of the need to look elsewhere," Higgins said. "I've always said that the TV station has the right to select who it wants to do what job, but then the talent also has the right to make its selection.
"I would have been happy here a long time. We had just bought a house in March. But that pretty much forced my hand to look elsewhere."
And the difference will be night and day.
At Channel 8, he and McCann handled everything. In Tulsa, he will lead a five-man staff that includes three sportscasters and two videographers.
The workload, however, will be greater. Higgins' new station covers five major universities -- Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Arkansas and Oral Roberts. It also covers the Dallas Cowboys.
"I told Channel 6 that was the main attraction of working there," Higgins said. "That place lives and dies sports. The college scene is big, and they cover the Cowboys. They're all over the place.
"It's a challenge I'll look forward to. It'll be nice to not have to rely on network feeds for highlights like we do at Channel 8. Your goal as a sports director is to have an all-local newscast, and I'll be able to do that in Tulsa."
Static
* LAS VEGAS BOWL: It will be blacked out in Southern Nevada, but ESPN (Prime Cable Channel 19) will broadcast this year's Las Vegas Bowl. Entering its fourth year, the Las Vegas Bowl never has sold out, and this year's edition doesn't figure to be any different as Big West Conference champ Nevada-Reno takes on Mid-American Conference champ Ball State. While local viewers won't be able to witness the action live when it kicks off at Sam Boyd Stadium at 6 p.m., they still will be able to catch the replay a few hours after the final gun at 12:30 a.m. Ron Franklin will handle the play-by-play, Mike Gottfried the color commentary and Adrian Karsten the sidelines.
* CAN'T GET IT RIGHT: Print advertisements for KDWN 720-AM, which ran in both local newspapers, touted Harry Hyde and Ron Futrells as members of KDWN 720-AM's sports talk lineup. "Harry" actually is former UNLV football coach Harvey Hyde, and Futrells is KTNV Channel 13 sports director Ron Futrell. Both have shows on the all-talk station. "I don't know for sure where (the errors) happened," said KDWN's Buzz Jones. Hyde's one-hour show airs Monday at 5 p.m., Tuesday at 7 and 8 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m. "I think it got more exposure as Harry," Jones said. "I think more people noticed it. 'Harry' himself called me that morning saying he had gotten several calls." The ad was rerun in Monday's editions, correcting Hyde's first name, but the Futrell mistake remained. Futrell's "Boulder Station Sports Talk" airs Thursday night at 8.
* SOUND BITE: Arizona State quarterback Jake Plummer on the Rose Bowl prediction by ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso: "I'd be mad at him if he picks us to beat Ohio State because he hasn't been right yet, and he looks like a fool every week."
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